At the July 1994 National Conference on Federal Quality in Washington, D. C., CIA's Office of
Information Technology was honored as one of nine finalists for the 1994 Federal Quality Improvement
Prototype Award. The honor came in response to OIT's ongoing program of total quality
management.

The mission of OIT is to serve the information technology needs for the CIA. The office serves as the
Agency's phone company. Its personnel build and maintain the Agency's telecommunications network,
deliver its mail, procure its computer hardware and software, and run its centralized computer
services.

Some three years ago, OIT decided to develop a program on total quality management, and since then has
had strong management commitment and leadership in the effort. The senior leaders attended the first
TQM classes and chair the quality boards in their organizations. Either the office director or deputy
director spends one to two hours in every training course discussing the importance of the TQM
program.

OIT developed a five-year TQM plan which seeks to ensure consistency in making processes and
procedures more efficient, while improving the quality and timeliness of service. The TQM program has
produced many quality results during the past several years--some quantified, other unquantified.
Improving customer service, developing empowering leaders, and optimizing resources continue to be
main themes. More than 90% of the staff has received TQM training. Some 30 Process Action Teams,
called Quality Teams, have completed work process analyses and have made more than 200
recommendations for improving services.

As an example, the Computer Operations Group implemented a Quality Team recommendation for more
timely deletion of inactive mainframe user identifiers, thereby releasing associated disk storage space.
During the past year, this recommendation resulted in a cost avoidance of more than $1.3 million. When
all approved Quality Team recommendations become implemented, OIT expects an estimated total cost
avoidance of over $8 million.